Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a late-onset neurodegenerative disorder. Mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the complex pathophysiology of ALS; however, the role of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants in ALS is poorly understood. We aimed to elucidate the role of mtDNA variants in the pathogenesis of ALS.
Methods: The mitochondrial haplogroups of 585 ALS patients and 371 healthy controls were determined; 38 ALS patients and 42 controls underwent long-range polymerase chain reaction combined with next-generation sequencing technology to analyze whole mitochondrial genome variants.
Results: A higher percentage of variants accumulated in ALS patients than in controls. Analysis of coding region variations that were further stratified by mtDNA genes revealed that nonsynonymous variants were more vulnerable in ALS patients than in controls, particularly in the ND4L, ND5, and ATP8 genes. Moreover, pathogenic nonsynonymous variants tended to over-represent in ALS patients. Unsurprisingly, nonsynonymous variants were not related to the phenotype. Haplogroup analysis did not found evidence of association between haplogroups with the risk of ALS, however, patients belonging to haplogroup Y and M7c were prone to develop later onset of ALS.
Conclusions: This is the first study to profile mtDNA variants in ALS patients from mainland China. Our results suggest that an increase in the number of nonsynonymous variants is linked to the pathogenesis of ALS. Moreover, haplogroup Y and M7c may modulate the clinical expression of ALS. Our findings provide independent, albeit limited, evidence for the role of mtDNA in the pathogenesis of ALS.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00415-021-10659-7 | DOI Listing |
BMC Neurol
January 2025
Department of Neurology, Wessex Neurological Centre, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Neurochem Int
January 2025
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, 523808, PR China; Dongguan Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine, School of Public Health, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, 523808, PR China. Electronic address:
Neurodegenerative diseases are a group of diseases that pose a serious threat to human health, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In recent years, it has been found that mitochondrial remodeling plays an important role in the onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Mitochondrial remodeling refers to the dynamic regulatory process of mitochondrial morphology, number and function, which can affect neuronal cell function and survival by regulating mechanisms such as mitochondrial fusion, division, clearance and biosynthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Graduate Institute of Integrated Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons. Although genes causing familial cases have been identified, those of sporadic ALS, which occupies the majority of patients, are still elusive. In this study, we adopted machine learning to build binary classifiers based on the New York Genome Center (NYGC) ALS Consortium's RNA-seq data of the postmortem spinal cord of ALS and non-neurological disease control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Dept. of Neurology, University of Ulm, Oberer Eselsberg 45, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a motor neuron disease (MND) which mainly affects upper motor neurons. Within the MND spectrum, PLS is much more slowly progressive than amyotrophic laterals sclerosis (ALS). `Classical` ALS is characterized by catabolism and abnormal energy metabolism preceding onset of motor symptoms, and previous studies indicated that the disease progression of ALS involves hypothalamic atrophy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Neurol
January 2025
Department of Pharmacotherapy, University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Background: Reduction of intracellular Na accumulation through late Na current inhibition has been recognized as a target for cardiac Ca handling which underlies myocardial contractility and relaxation in heart failure (HF). Riluzole, an Na channel blocker with enhancement of Ca-activated K channel function, used for management of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is effective in suppressing Ca leak and therefore may improve cardiac function.
Objectives: The study aim was to investigate whether riluzole lowers HF incidence.
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